Fuck it, let's introspect about games. There's value in it, I assure you. And by you, I mean me.
Design & Publication
There were some big ups and downs this year. I continue to feel that board game design, development, and publishing are incredibly punishing processes - especially for freelance designers like myself. It is difficult, at times, not to feel exploited. And yet there is much to be thankful for. This year saw the eventual appearance of Maniacal - in the flesh, so to speak. Delivered several months late to KS backers, and still suffering some problems with distribution. But there was (is) great joy in seeing that final product - that game you've poured your brain into for so many months - finally manifest in one's immediate reality. To hold it in your hands and examine the box, as if you've never seen it before. To read the instruction manual for the 1000th time, but also as if you've never read it before. To punch the tokens and set up the board as if you've never played before.
I'm thoroughly pleased with how Maniacal ended up, let me be clear on that. The final product is gorgeous and it's beyond what I originally imagined it could be. So Kudos to EGG, and Kudos to me. But it's also true that the development and production of Maniacal were beset with inefficiencies and delays and poor decisions that were utterly unnecessary. Changes in company leadership and in lead developers that impacted the momentum and, in many ways, final quality of the game. Events beyond my control, even though I often raged against them explicitly. This part of game design is NOT FUN. I hope that other designers don't experience it, but I suspect many do. I feel like designers, and in particular, freelancers need a BILL OF RIGHTS that discusses fair contracts, appropriate royalties, ownership rights and all that jazz, bu also goes beyond into basic issues of respect and communication. Something that helps move consumer and designer to at least an equal level with publisher, if not above.
It remains to be seen how well Maniacal will sell. There has been very little publicity and advertisement. Hardly any buzz whatsoever. My game competes with 1000's of others churned out by an industry that is more concerned with taking advantage of a consumer boom than worrying about any particular title in their catalog. Put out as many games as possible, hope one of them gets hot, becomes an evergreen. Those that don't are abandoned, eventually placed on deep discount, quickly forgotten. My cynicism today apparently knows no bounds.
My proudest accomplishment design-wise this year was successfully transforming an Aztec-apocalypse themed game that's been in my prototype pile for a while into a much better Doomsday-cult themed game. It blossomed into a strong design early in 2019, so much so that I felt confident showing it to potential publishers at Origins. Grey Fox Games expressed interested, took my prototype, and a couple weeks later I'd signed a contract with them. I've continued to tweak the game in the ensuing months - working on expanding the player count to 1-6 primarily, and adding a few new cults to the game - but no formal development on this game will occur until later this year.
To be frank, I'm not optimistic that switching publishers will necessarily lead to a more satisfying development and publication experience. I don't think my problems with this industry lie with specific companies, in other words. They are more systemic. But I could be wrong. Stay tuned here (and elsewhere) for more news on this game as it gets closer to publication. In some ways it's my strongest design. And yet again, it's very different from my previous games. As such, it may be unsatisfying to those who wish I was just working on another area control game. I think part of what's been going on with me design-wise these past couple years is that I'm trying out different types of games, playing with lots of different mechanics, fiddling with contrasting game philosophies (e.g., direct confrontation vs. little player interaction). Seeing what fits me. Seeing what I'm good at. To be clear, I'm still learning. I'm getting better but also more jaded and more and more influenced by other popular games in the market.
It's getting harder and harder to feel like your design is truly innovative. It's getting harder to understand what players want in a game - intricate plastic components, three dimensions, electronics, app-integration, hordes of MINIS, 100+ scenarios, solitaire variants, etc., etc. My ideas often get quickly swallowed up in thoughts of inferiority and confusion. I still think about games in terms of cards and counters and dice. I may be outdated.
Board Games I Played & Loved
In contrast to my design frustrations, I can say that 2019 was an excellent year for playing games with my friends. I have a great game group - 4 of us - who get together around once/week for 3-4 hours. We played a lot this year. A lot of it was fantastic. A lot of these were new games. So maybe the industry is fine? Things look different from the hobbyist's perspective.
I also joined a boardgame podcast this year, hosted by the illustrious critic Tom Chick. As a long time fan of Tom, this was a periodically exhilarating experience. Tom, Mike, and I put out an episode every 2 weeks for the entirety of the year, and I mostly didn't run out of things to say. I don't like how my laughter sounds on tape, and I come off as pretentious at times. But I enjoyed the pressure of coming up with something interesting to say about one game every other week. I hope we continue it.
Gaming highlights? Well, certainly Twilight Imperium 4 has to be at the top of the list. What a game. We played 3x in 2019 - the first a learning game in all honesty, but all intensely competitive and dramatic. People shouldn't shy away from TI4 because they're worried about game length or rules complexity. It is long, it does have a lot of rules - but once you get into it, it's probably the most immersive strategy game I've ever played. It keeps you up at night thinking about your next turn. It gives you stomach aches worrying what stupid Action cards your opponents might have. And the tension ramps up. The narrative arc of a game is fascinating. I'm proud to say I won each game we played, and so I should likely never play TI4 again.
Nemesis is also great. A truly cinematic experience that captures what many of us love about Alien, the movie. I love how it can be very cooperative or intensely confrontational. The secret objectives are incorporated very well. It can also run long, but it's well worth it and the flow of each turn is actually quite simple and smooth.
I played a number of low/mid weight games that I quite liked this year: Victorian Masterminds, Crusaders, Ethnos, Wasteland Express, Clank. I would play all of these again in an instant. I also count myself a fan of Tapestry, even though I understand the haters. I maybe love KeyForge even though I hardly ever play it.
When it came to solitaire play, I got into Unicornus Knights for a time - and I'm looking forward to playing it again. It's wacky and cool. The expansion for Paper Tales made it an excellent little solo drafting game that I'm sure I'll pull out regularly. But other than those, it was a somewhat dissatisfying year for solo play. I maybe shouldn't have sold my copy of 7th Continent to my brother. But I needed the cash...
My top 10 has changed a little, at least according to my BGG ranking:
TI4, Concordia, and Clockwork Wars are new additions. The Clockwork Wars ranking might not even be a lie. We played it a couple times this year and it was a blast.
But above all this, I'm just thankful that I have three good friends that I get to see (at least) once a week, drink good beer with, bullshit, and play against. I couldn't have asked for a better crew. We play a lot of different stuff, we know how to learn new rules quickly, we know how to be competitive without being assholes, and no one ever leaves the table upset. We create a "magic circle" weekly, and stepping inside of it allows me to temporarily forget much of the chaos and tragedy in the world.
Video Games I Played & Loved
Not much, and I ain't lyin'. This is largely due to the fact that I transitioned to an Apple computer at home, which has limited the games I can play. I also don't have as much time to play as I once did. And my motivation is lower. I'm not as excited by video games anymore, and I'll often choose to watch a good film vs. spend 2-3 hours playing a strategy game or RPG.
Having said all that, there have been a couple stand-outs. Slay the Spire is a darn good time. I'm not sure it deserves all the attention it receives, but it's clean and precisely balanced and fairly impressive on several levels. I got into Dungeons 3 for a while, reliving my old Dungeon Keeper obsession. It didn't quite capture the same magic, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed taking my creatures aboveground to slaughter righteous heroes. My biggest surprise of the year was definitely Battle Chasers: NightWar, which is a hella dumb name and yes, it's a JRPG (I guess?) but I loved every minute of it and it was just the right length. Probably the closest I came to a 10/10 experience this year.
Ape Out was OK, and at least pretty amusing and hip. Cultist Simulator was flat-out disappointing and frustrating. Nowhere Prophet was good but not great. And I still keep coming back to Northgard even though the AI continues to hammer me. It's a great example of a video game that feels like a board game but does things that a board game could never do.
Conclusions
It's all good, don't worry about me. First world problems, I don't practice my gratitude enough, I know I waste too much emotional energy on anxiety and pessimism. I've got a lot more gaming in me. A lot more to create, a lot more to play. Thank goodness for games. When I die, I want to be surrounded by cardboard and dice and lots of beautiful, colorful boxes shining at me, tempting me with the stories they contain. Bury me with them, let me take them into the afterlife. It will be glorious.
